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bob in edmonton User is Offline

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Posts:16

12/01/2007 12:49 AM
My new place is designed to be about 40% glass for walls--A lot of heat loss. I have been looking at ways to mitigate this. There are a few companies that make mutilayer windows with glass and 1 or 2 sheets of plastic film in between. Visionwall and Alpen are two. There is a condo building here that use Visionwall. One of my partners lives there and says the windows are as warm as a wall. The only problem is that the film comes in 2 metre widths, and my design cals for 7'6". Anyone had any experience with them? bob

tilleym

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Posts:2

12/01/2007 10:23 AM
Not sure if this is what you are looking for but... LINK I can't personally vouch for them.

bob in edmonton User is Offline

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Posts:16

12/01/2007 11:53 AM
Nope. Not the same thing. These two use various plastic films with different reflectivity and absorption of different wavelengths of the incoming light. They make quad layer windows- 2 sheets of glass and 2 sheets of film, resulting in 3 gas spaces. The Alpen ones can come with a fibreglass frame. They are also much quieter than a regular all-glass windows. Take a look- VisionWall Alpen bob

alaskabuilder User is Offline

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Posts:13

12/25/2007 4:05 AM
Bob, I don't suppose this will help you out much from a practical viewpoint, but this is the future of windows -pages 23 - 27 of LINK The only thing better would be electrochromic vacuum insulated glass units - incredibly efficient, and no shades required. Just make sure you're not in your bvd's when the power goes out... VIG is being produced in the US, China, and Europe - it's just too new (and expensive) to be common, but the U.S. government is already specifying electrochromic windows - a couple of colleagues just finished installing a load of it last year.

rancov

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Posts:17

01/16/2008 5:33 PM
You are talking about Heat-mirror technology that suspends a film in between 2 pieces of glass. This used to be the most energy efficient technology but has been eclipsed by better coatings (such as) on glass used in IG makeups for far less money now. I do not know where you live, but you should start at Energy Star.[u] [/u] I am in the window business and have sold Heat Mirror before, including some manufactured by Alpen. Without commenting on either of these two specifically, the quality of the fabrication is [u][i][b]extremely[/b][/i][/u] critical to the quality of the field of view and most importantly the longevity of the unit. If these fabrication is poor, you can have the film pull loose form the edges and wrinlkle (yu can see examples of this in Dever International Airport) or you will have a seal failure and the film will oxidize causing discoloration. Now even if they say this is warranted, most Heat Mirror warranties are prorated and none of them included labor to install or refinish. These days you can get double insulated glass that will match Heat Mirror in performance. You can also get windows with a 20 year , non pro-rated, fully transferrable warranty at custom windows. You only mention one dimension that you need but you should not have any problem meeting that requirement with a standard Aluminum Clad window. You mention "condo". If you are building in an urban environment, I would recommend you get with someone that can explore the best glass configuration to cut down on noise transmission. It will make a tremendous difference in the noise inyour unit. Here are 2 downloads you might want: Cardinal Red Book Custom Windows Also see the efficient window collaborative. If you need more click on my user name at the top of this post to send an e-mail. Randy

Randy

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